We speak with Iraqi-American singer-songwriter and activist Stephan Said, who joined Occupy Wall Street after working with the the antiwar movement since the 1990s. "I have been raised an all-American guy who had to deal with the fact that my family was being bombed in the first and biggest war of globalization," says Said. "I had to realize from the very beginning that the only way to stop it was to create this movement that...

As the nation marked Columbus Day on Monday, indigenous groups led a rally at Occupy Wall Street exposing the history behind Christopher Columbus and the impact his "discovery" had on the Americas. "We’re here to say that Columbus is not a day," said Roberto "Múcaro" Borrero of the United Confederation of Taíno People. "We’re here to join with other people’s voices in saying there needs to...

"The moral clarity of this movement is what I think has moved people to get up and walk and be in motion," says Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation magazine. "And what’s so interesting to me is—I was here last Wednesday for the march to Foley Square—that so many groups, which have been trying to get some energy, are finding the spark in here and coming together." [includes rush transcript]

On a trip from Vancouver, Dr. Gabor Maté stopped by Occupy Wall Street on Monday. He observed: "50 percent of American adults have a chronic medical illness, and much of that has to do with stress. And if you look at the literature on what causes stress, it’s uncertainty and lack of information and loss of control and lack of expression of self. And the uncertainty that has been forced upon the American population by the recent...

Journalist and author Jeff Sharlet has spent days at the Occupy Wall Street encampment watching the movement grow. "This is the most incredible display of political imagination I have seen in my lifetime," said Sharlet, author of the book "C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy." "And I say that as a person who’s spent years immersed in the right wing." [includes rush transcript]

The Occupy Wall Street protests have inspired activists across the United States and overseas, but many see the roots of the occupation in the public squares of Cairo, Athens and Madrid. On Monday, we spoke to one Spanish protester who traveled from Madrid to New York City to support the budding movement. "I came here just for this, because we started our movement four months ago, on 15 of May," Monica Lopez said. "I decided to...

Over the past 24 days, New Yorkers of all walks of life have taken part in the Occupy Wall Street protest near Manhattan’s Financial District. On Monday, we caught up with a trader walking through the protest encampment. "I like the fact that everybody is organizing from a grassroots level. And, you know, I think that the people that have had all the power need to even it out a bit and let these people speak their voice," said...

In 1968, Olympic medal winner John Carlos became an international icon when he and Tommie Smith raised their fists in the Black Power salute during the national anthem at the Olympic prize ceremony as a protest against racism in the United States. The photo of the men has become one of the most iconic images of our time. Carlos has just published a new memoir with assistance from sportswriter Dave Zirin. The two spoke to a crowd at Occupy Wall...

As the "Occupy" movement expands from the "Occupy Wall Street" protest in New York City throughout the United States, we look at its historical significance. "This is an incredibly significant moment in U.S. history," says Dorian Warren of Columbia University. "It might be a turning point, because this is the first time we’ve seen an emergence of a populist movement on the left since the 1930s." We...

Protests inspired by the "Occupy Wall Street" encampment in New York City continued to expand this weekend with protests taking place in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, San Francisco and Oakland, among others. Many of the protests have led to arrests. After about 500 protesters gathered during the day in front of the Iowa Statehouse in Des Moines, renaming the capitol complex "People’s Park,"...

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